Robert Downey Jr. weighed in on Iñarritu’s comment in 2015 in interview with The Guardian to promote his turn as Iron Man in the Marvel blockbuster “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” but the actor’s retort was controversial.

Downey Jr. noted that he “respects the heck out of” Iñarritu but also mocked Iñarritu’s Spanish roots by saying, “For a man whose native tongue is Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like ‘cultural genocide’ just speaks to how bright he is.”

Guys from Banana Country

“It was like ‘Oh, you guys from your banana country,’” Iñarritu said. “If I were from Denmark or Sweden, I might be seen as philosophical, but when you’re Mexican and you say things, you’re pretentious.”

Iñarritu said in his initial remarks that just the word “superhero” bothered him. “What the fuck does that mean? It’s a false, misleading conception, the superhero. Then, the way they apply violence to it, it’s absolutely right wing. If you observe the mentality of most of those films, it’s really about people who are rich, who have power, who will do the good, who will kill the bad. Philosophically, I just don’t like them.”

Bardo opens in theaters on November 18 and will stream on Netflix starting December 16.